Once upon a time, Steve Jobs and Apple invented the iPhone, and the world was fundamentally changed. We have shorter attention spans. And we live on demand, two taps or 5 seconds at a time. Easily distracted, easily frustrated, easily disrupted. In this environment, when embracing the mobile moment with your audience—be it B2B, B2C, or to an internal stakeholder—it is imperative to help people either save time or kill time. Taking a few lessons from the storytelling masters in Hollywood can help you accomplish that goal.

Peopleware: Content Industry Staffing Moves for the Week of August 5

BEST PRACTICES SERIES

Bebo hired Akash Garg as its new CTO and Aren Sanderson as its new VP of operations. Garg was a co-founder and former CTO of social network Hi5, while Aren Sandersen is the former director of engineering at classified site Oodle.

David George, who most recently served as director of business operations at Bloomperg Press, is joining Aptara as its new editorial director. George has experience throughout the publishing industry, having served as an associate managing editor for Wiley's STM division, a senior managing editor at Pearson/Prentice Hall, and a managing editor at IEEE.

David Liu is joining Knewton.com as its new chief operating officer. Liu is a former senior vice president at AOL, where he oversaw the AIM, ICQ, and Lifestream products, and led the growth of AOL into a major web portal. Liu will be responsible for helping Kewton transition towards becoming a software provider for the education market.

Managing Editor Inc. hired Tom Kelly to serve as its corporate sales manager. Kelly has more than 20 years of experience in sales and consulting for the publishing industry, with experience as an account executive for Quark and director of marketing and product development at Heldref Publications. He has also worked as an independent consultant for Philadelphia and DC-area publishers.

Common Sense Media named Susan Sachs as its new president and COO, replacing former president and COO Anne Zehren, who is stepping down and joining the board of directors. Sachs, who served as CSM's COO from 2004 to 2007 and has 20 years of publishing management experience, will serve as an interim president and COO while the company searches for a full-time president.

Jeetu Patel, a 17-year veteran of the information management industry, is taking over the position of chief technology officer of EMC's Information Intelligence Group. Reporting to Information Intelligence Group president Mark Lewis, Patel will be responsible for driving the group's product vision and growth strategies. He previously served as an executive vice president and then president at Doculabs.